


Bitter(sweet)

by FaiaHae



Series: Coffee Shop AU Prompt Fills [2]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast), The Adventure Zone: Amnesty (Podcast)
Genre: Exes, Getting Back Together, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Prompt Fill, coffee shop AU, dirty old men, meet cute, meet ugly, truly tasteless flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-20
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-11-26 12:11:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18180440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaiaHae/pseuds/FaiaHae
Summary: Ned had always hoped, secretly, that he'd see Boyd again- that didn't mean he was going to handle it well when it finally happened.





	Bitter(sweet)

Ned never claimed to be a mature or reasonable adult.

 

He didn’t, and he’d maintain that, and anything he may have boasted to Kirby about being a ‘real adult’ had spontaneously slipped from his memory right around the time that Boyd fucking Mosche slid up to the register to pay for his coffee.

 

And Boyd was just as gorgeous as ever, smiling, with that look in his eye he got when he was about to ask for something  _ big  _ and  _ majorly illegal _ and Ned was not in a good mental place to handle this right now, he’d argue that in court, he was traumatized by how pretty Boyd fucking Mosche’s smile was. The way Boyd tipped his head had to be illegal somewhere. It seemed like it could have important political consequences. Boyd could convince an anarchist to join the FBI. Boyd could charm a hippie into joining the war effort.

 

Anyway, that was why Ned dumped his coffee down the front of Boyd’s shirt.

 

He was maintaining that.

 

Boyd didn’t even look terribly angry, just kind of disappointed.

 

“Really, love?”

 

Ned frowned down at the empty cup.

 

“Yeah that wasn’t nearly as satisfying as I hoped it would be. Mind buying me another one?”

 

“Are you going to pour it on me?”

 

Ned grinned, almost annoyed at how easy it was to fall into the old rapport with Boyd.

 

“I haven’t decided yet. Gotta keep you on your toes.”

 

“Fair enough.”   
  


Boyd turned back to the totally baffled cashier.

 

“One more coffee, please. Milk and sugar. A truly unbelievable amount of sugar. However much sugar you think he needs, and then twice that.”

 

Ned snorted, but when the cashier looked over at him, he just smiled and tried not to look like he was contemplating homicide or public indecency. Ned had a list of things he’d like to do to Boyd that was about a mile long, and most the points were illegal for a wide variety of different reasons. 

 

Whatever expression he made must have been halfway convincing, because the cashier gave him an uncertain smile and said- “Oh-okay.”

 

Boyd turned back to Ned, still smiling.

 

“How have you been?”

 

Ned tried to look aloof.

 

“Oh, I’ve been well. Out of the game, you know. I run a small.....museum.”

 

“Uh-huh.”

 

“A repository for the arcane. A phylactery, if you will.”

 

Boyd was  _ trying _ not to laugh, Ned could give him that much credit. 

 

He sighed.

 

“Alright fine it’s a tourist sellout shithole. I get by. How’ve you been?”

 

For the first time, Boyd’s smile cracks, and Ned gets a glimpse of agony underneath it before it smooths out again, and Ned can tell that Boyd’s about to lie, and he gives him a look that says  _ don’t even try it. _

 

Boyd actually smiles at that, his real one, and Ned wishes it didn’t still get him in the chest every time. Didn’t feel like the sun coming up. Damn him.

 

“Pretty shitty. Got arrested. Did some time. Missed you.”

 

Ned blinks- ignoring the last words for the sake of his sanity.

 

“You  _ what? _ Thought you were better than that.”

 

Boyd snorts.   
  
“Well, maybe it was a little harder without my partner.”

 

Ned looks back at the coffee machine rather then looking at Boyd, ignores the holy-shit expression on the barista’s face (they’ve definitely heard everything. Ned can’t bring himself to care). 

 

“So is that what you’re here for? In town to recruit me?”

 

Boyd grabbed him by the collar, pulling him around to look at him, and Ned heard the barista drop his drink. 

 

Out of instinct, Ned leaned into the touch and put his hand over Boyd’s, making it seem like an affectionate gesture. 

 

“Easy.” he hisses, and then winces.  _ Okay maybe this was the wrong moment to use our goddamn safe word- _

 

Boyd relaxes instantly, and Ned hates that that gets his heart all aflutter. His grip relaxes into something more affectionate.

 

“That’s not fair.” he says, mildly, and Ned’s not sure if he means the recruitment accusation or the safeword. Both, maybe.

 

He decides to respond to the one he could handle.

 

“Well what’re you here for, then? Don’t tell me you just happened to be in my remote little town, in the coffee shop I frequent, at exactly the time I come here every day.”

 

“I told you already.” Boyd lifts his hand to thumb Ned’s cheek, and his eyes seem to go from gray to blue, and damn him, damn him, damn him. 

 

“I missed you.”

 

Ned swallows, nervously, but he manages his usual bluster when he speaks.

  
“And you’re broke and need a favor?”

 

Boyd sighs.

 

“And I’m broke and need a favor.”

 

“Still.” Ned manages, his heart trying to climb out of his throat. “Lots of people owe you favors. Guess I can still feel a little special.”

 

Boyd snorted.

 

“Is it so hard to believe that I missed the man I’ve been in love with for about half of my life?”

 

“Charmer.” 

 

“Doesn’t mean it’s not true.”

 

Ned sighed, taking the coffee from the hand of the poor barista who’d been holding it out, looking deeply conflicted about calling out and interrupting the conversation. 

 

“Alright, I’ll bite.”

 

“I sure hope so.”   
  


Ned gave him an unamused look, and Boyd snorted.

 

“Alright, love. Hit me. Metaphorically. You’ve already ruined my shirt.”

 

Ned ignored that, like an adult.

 

“I’ve got a TV show starting. Saturday Night Dead. I could use some help with production. You were always a pretty decent actor. Care to join me?”

 

Boyd grinned, and Ned was going to hit that like the fist of god the MINUTE they got back to the Cryptonomica.

 

“Always.”


End file.
